The cruise ships of Costa Cruises, the Italian company of Carnival Corporation & plc, will set sail again with the departure of the flagship Costa Smeralda on March 27. It will operate an unchanged itinerary, sailing guests on three- and four-day mini-cruises or, alternatively, a say-day cruise, calling at Savona, La Spezia, Civitavecchia (Rome), Naples, Messina and Cagliari, all in Italy.
From May 1, Costa Smeralda will return to sailing one-week cruises in the western Mediterranean, with visits to Italy (Savona, Civitavecchia and Palermo), France (Marseille) and Spain (Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca).
A second ship, Costa Luminosa, will also be back in service, departing from Trieste from May 2, and the following day from Bari, confirming its program of one-week cruises in Greece and Croatia.
Costa says it is working with national and local authorities of the countries included in the itineraries of its ships outside Italy to define the details of the restart of cruise operations, with enhanced health and safety measures through the implementation of the "Costa Safety Protocol."
The protocol contains operational measures related to all aspects of the cruise experience, both on board and ashore, which were implemented in the past months of cruise operations. Such measures include limited capacity, swab tests for all guests and crew, temperature checks when disembarking and re-embarking the ship, protected shore excursions, physical distancing on board and at the cruise terminals, new ways of using on-board services, enhanced sanitation and medical services, and use of protective face masks when necessary.
All other cruises scheduled until the end of May will be cancelled. Costa is in the process of informing travel advisors and customers affected by changes.
For more information, visit www.costacruises.eu.
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